


Past Motivations

by innerslytherin



Series: The Fifth Year [12]
Category: Criminal Minds
Genre: Multi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-07-04
Updated: 2010-07-04
Packaged: 2017-10-10 09:32:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,107
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/98183
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/innerslytherin/pseuds/innerslytherin
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Dave and Emily go home.  <em>Coda to "Slave of Duty"</em>.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Past Motivations

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks to [](http://resolucidity.livejournal.com/profile)[**resolucidity**](http://resolucidity.livejournal.com/) for the beta!

  
"Remind me never to piss you off," Dave remarked as he unlocked the door from his garage to his house.

"Shut up," Emily grumbled. She was only visible from the waist down as she fished their ready bags out of the back seat, but Dave was fond of the view, so he didn't complain. She straightened up and staggered a little. "God, what do you pack in this thing?"

"It's all my toiletries and a spare press kit, in case I meet a fan," Dave deadpanned. She snorted and followed him inside, dropping his bag on the kitchen floor as Mucci came running up to greet them.

They didn't talk much as Dave threw together a quick dinner and Emily opened a bottle of port. She'd mostly given up drinking since they were trying to get pregnant, but Dave didn't stop her, considering the way the case had ended up. Hell, he still shivered thinking about the way she'd pressed her gun against the unsub's temple while she challenged him.

He waited until they were done eating and snuggled in bed. The lights were off, but the TV was on an old Cary Grant movie with the sound turned off. Emily was snuggled in his arms, her head resting on his chest.

"Seriously, Em. You had your gun in that guy's face. What gives?"

She was silent for a long time, then finally she sighed. "Those women...I understood them. Especially the one who went along with her victim. She just wanted to get out of it alive. She knew he was from money. She knew the rules and tried to play along." She shook her head. "She worked so hard to get where she was. She played by society's rules and made something of herself. She had a nice house, a nice dog, a nice life. And..." She trailed off, then pressed her face against his chest.

Dave wasn't sure he understood, but he stroked her hair and didn't say anything. After a while Emily took a deep breath.

"When I was a junior in college, my roommate was raped in our apartment. I was at work. She had a blind date. A friend set her up and vouched for the guy." Emily's breathing went a little ragged. "He violated her in our own home. When she got out of the hospital, she went back to her parents' house and dropped out of school, and I was stuck living there by myself. I couldn't afford to break the lease and I was too proud to tell my mother about it."

Dave's arms had tightened around her as she spoke. She finally squeaked and pushed at him.

"I can't breathe," she murmured, and sighed. "I already knew I wanted to do something my mother wouldn't approve of when I got out of college. Nothing that would embarrass her, of course, but something she wouldn't like anyway." She gave a half-hearted laugh. "After Monica was raped, I narrowed my career down a little. Agent Katie Cole--you remember her?"

Dave grunted an assent. He'd taken Katie Cole to dinner once, but he didn't think Emily needed to know that.

"Katie Cole did a recruitment seminar the semester after Monica was raped. She was working closely with the BAU at the time..." Emily laughed again. "You were probably still _with_ the BAU, for that matter. And I knew that was what I wanted." She slipped her arm around Dave and kissed his neck. "So I set out to get it."

"Well, you did it," Dave said. "You earned your place on this team. So don't follow your predecessor Greenaway and get yourself kicked off it."

Emily sucked in a breath, tensing, then relaxed again. "She resigned."

"Because Aaron let her." Dave knew the whole story of Elle Greenaway. He couldn't say he blamed her. Mostly he blamed Gideon, because he knew Gideon had pressured Greenaway to do it and pressured Aaron into going along. But then again, he knew Hotch still blamed himself. Hotch blamed himself for too many things.

But tonight was about Emily.

"Morgan thought I'd lost it, didn't he?" she asked softly.

"Morgan _definitely_ thought you'd lost it," Dave agreed. "Don't do anything like that again. I love you, and I know I won't lose you as my future wife no matter what, but I really don't want to lose you as my colleague either."

"You thought I'd lost it too," Emily said. Her voice wasn't quite a question.

"I knew you had a reason for reacting the way you did," Dave said.

She sighed and relaxed in his arms. "What do we do about Hotch?"

It was the second time in less than a week that she'd asked, and it was the second time he didn't really have an answer.

Aaron had called him partway through the case, just to check in and make sure the team didn't need him. He'd said, too, that Strauss had offered him early retirement, and Dave had been able to tell that Aaron was considering it. He'd winced when Aaron added that Jessica Brooks was helping out a lot, because Dave knew Haley's sister would have a lot of influence over Aaron right now. Haley had never been shy about wanting Aaron out of the BAU, and he didn't imagine her sister would be any more understanding.

"I'll talk to him tomorrow," he said. "And then I'll send Spencer to him."

"Reid didn't go home to him tonight?" Emily asked, pushing herself up to look at him.

Dave sighed. "Haley's sister is helping out. I think Reid's scared of that. She might not know Aaron's in a relationship again, let alone with another man."

"She probably still thinks Hotch loves Haley," Emily muttered, lying down in his arms again.

"Part of him still does," Dave said. "Part of him always will. She _was_ his best friend, his high school sweetheart, the mother of his child." He knew how it felt. Dave would probably always feel something for Kay, even though they hadn't been able to make a go of it.

Emily sighed. "Don't say any of that to Reid, or he won't go at all," she advised, and kissed Dave's jaw before snuggling down and falling silent.

Dave held her securely. It still felt like a miracle that he had this, that he spent every night with a beautiful, intelligent, quick-silver woman in his arms. He understood what it was to remember the past with affection. But tomorrow he would do his damnedest to make sure Aaron understood what it was to look forward to the future with hope.


End file.
